A “fairing” is an auxiliary structure of a vehicle, such as a rocket or spacecraft launch vehicle, that serves to reduce aerodynamic, or hydrodynamic, drag or otherwise affect one or more fluid dynamic properties of the vehicle. In many cases such fairings are used to safely enclose a payload, e.g. one or more spacecraft, for transport. It is thus often desirable to design the fairing to enclose the greatest possible volume. At the same time, however, it is necessary to ensure that the fairing fulfills certain predetermined design criteria—e.g., criteria related to mechanical characteristics, thermal characteristics, aerodynamic characteristics, minimization of fairing weight for a given payload, and any number of other design variables. Optimization therefore centers on balancing these competing considerations.
Fairings typically have one of a variety of traditional nose-cone shapes, such as conic, bi-conic, ogive, elliptical, parabolic, etc. Such shapes are generally symmetrical, or, more particularly, axisymmetric (exhibiting rotational symmetry about an axis). Unfortunately, traditional fairing shapes such as these do not always provide the best basis for optimization.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide fairing shapes that are capable of enclosing payloads of various sizes and shapes while remaining within the applicable design criteria. Other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.